I have a weird problem on my 93 loyale with a 5 speed, it has a knocking sound and bad viiberation in the steering wheel and whole car for that matter that comes and goes. It never does it when it's cold only after about 10 miles of driving. It starts small and gets worse the farther you drive.  It hammers under acceleration, but is smooth when coasting  and it's much worse turning to the left. The sound is coming from the drivers front near as I can tell. I have replace the drivers side axle and wheel bearings and did the pass wheel bearing about a year ago as well as the axle. I can't see or feel anything wrong with the front end any where, tie rods are tight and I don't feel any bad ball joints. It sounds and feels like a axle that is out of balance to me, but they both seem fine by looking. They seam a little loose on the tranny splines though,  Any thoughts? I'm a pretty good mechanic and this has me stumped. Any chance it's the tranny?

Maybe check your motor and transmission mounts? Kinda sounds like clutch chatter too, maybe your clutch is beginning to fail?

Definitely not the engine missing and shaking the whole car, right?

Come on guys any good ideas as to whats going on here? I know the differance between a motor miss and the whole car shaking from something out of balance. I jacked up the car and ran it in gear and it will not make the viberation unless it is under a load. It is drivetrain related as it increases with tire speed, not engine speed.  It shakes the car very hard to where it is undriveable. It does it in 2 or 4 wheel drive as well. I just dont get it, I thought sure it was an axle problem.

You may have gotten a bad axle out of the box. Horror stories all over about that.

 

You could swap them and see if it changes anything before dropping coin on another one.

 

Good luck.

 

Dan

You may have gotten a bad axle out of the box. Horror stories all over about that.

 

You could swap them and see if it changes anything before dropping coin on another one.

 

Good luck.

 

Dan

 

Hey Dan

 

I would have a hard time believing that this new axle (wrecking yard axle) would do that exact same thing as the old one did. I replaced all that stuff to try to fix this problem. I'm not putting in new parts till i figure out what the problem is.

Edited December 8, 201411 yr by Fish-N-Fool

did you use the sealed bearings?  I've heard people say that they don't put enough grease in them sometimes.  the way you describe it may indicate that the grease in the axle or bearings are a little light and maybe when the temp goes up and it goes more fluid its not lubricating properly.

 

where axles are concerned on these I would not assume anything.  I can easily believe that a wrecking yard axle is bad, thoughI agree that if it didn't change  from the old to the new the problem likely is something else.  don't discount the axles completely though.

 

maybe check driveline or carrier bearing.  kind of a long shot but just in case.  

did you use the sealed bearings?

 

No just regular ole cheapies

Edited December 9, 201411 yr by Fish-N-Fool

Maybe a bad wheel and/or tire out of balance ?

I had an axle get bad like that. Yes, it seems odd to think you have 2 that bad. Does the noise also coresespond to a jerking in the steering wheel?

I had an axle get bad like that. Yes, it seems odd to think you have 2 that bad. Does the noise also coresespond to a jerking in the steering wheel?

yes you can feel it in the wheel as well

Swap your tires around. There could be a coincidental defect in one of the tires. That happened to me once. I put new tie-rods in and coincidentally the tire became damaged at the same time as the work. Formed a bubble on the tread. Drove for weeks with some seriously crazy vibration in the wheel after checking everything ten times over. Later on saw the bubble. New tire, no more shake.

Also

 

 

I know the differance between a motor miss and the whole car shaking from something out of balance.

I'm here to help, not judge. I'm not banking on you not knowing the difference. I'm suggesting that maybe it could be something that you possibly have over-looked, as we all do sometimes let something obvious slip past us. No need to get defensive.

And lastly,
 

 

I would have a hard time believing that this new axle (wrecking yard
axle) would do that exact same thing as the old one did. I replaced all
that stuff to try to fix this problem. I'm not putting in new parts till
i figure out what the problem is.

Anything is possible. Sure it could be far fetched, but if you start thinking that it is impossible, sometimes you will never figure out what the problem is because you just don't believe it could be that.

Best of luck finding the issue. Be sure to post back with the cause to help others out if you do get it sorted.

I have had the tire bubble thing.  In my cases, it was caused by alignment out of whack.  Didn't make any noise.   My super bad axle, made noise, jerked the wheel.  Not constant, but was effected by load, etc.  Having no symptoms with the wheel off the ground does not surprise me.  I've also had my share of axles get clicky due to broken boots [dirt] and once off the car, you can't tell anything is wrong with them.

Hey Dan

 

I would have a hard time believing that this new axle (wrecking yard axle) would do that exact same thing as the old one did. I replaced all that stuff to try to fix this problem. I'm not putting in new parts till i figure out what the problem is.

What I meant was swap sides. If the noise follows the axle you've found your cause.

 

Never rule out something for the single reason you've just replaced it. Countless wasted hours and bloody knuckles have resulted from refusing to accept reality.

 

Dan

ive refused 3 axles at the counter at orealys because they where loose right out of the box ive instaled 2 i dident refuse that where loose shreded in a few weeks i just installed another new one that was questionable right out of the box will wait and see on this one point being its hard to find good cheap axles i did get one solid axle from orealy though so unless you enjoy changing them it would be worth the money to buy quality new or rebuilt axles used junk yard axles and cheap chinese junk axles are hit and miss

I still have not been able to figure this out.  I don't know what to do, but throw more parts at it and I'm running out of money here even for wrecking yard parts. Has anyone ever had this problem?

Did you follow any of our suggestions? And if so, which ones?

Just wanted to update this . I replaced my old S.R. tranny with a D.R. (only because I wanted the low gears for off roading and launching my boat) as well as both front axles and the rear drive line and no more shaking. So not sure which one was the problem, but I think it was the tranny. But it drives great now and I have the Hi/Lo tranny I always wanted in it.

 

 

Next is the 3" lift and the 6 lug conversion to 15: wheels 

 

 

Then I'm are going to chop  it like this  

Edited February 6, 201511 yr by Fish-N-Fool